Clinton Administration Counterterrorism Initiative


I.  Actions Already Announced by the President

(1) Pass the Omnibus Counter-Terrorism Act of 1995

This bill would provide clear Federal criminal jurisdiction for any
international terrorist attack that might occur in the United States;
provide Federal criminal jurisdiction over terrorists who use the United
States as the place from which to plan terrorist attacks overseas;
provide a workable mechanism, utilizing United States District Judges
appointed by the Chief Justice, to deport expeditiously alien terrorists
without risking the disclosure of national security information or
techniques; provide a new mechanism for preventing fundraising in the
United States that supports international terrorist activities overseas;
and would implement an international treaty requiring the insertion of a
chemical agent into plastic explosives when manufactured to make them
detectable.

(2) Provide more tools to federal law enforcement agencies fighting
terrorism


o Amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to ease access to financial and
credit reports in anti-terrorism cases.

This legislation provides for disclosures by consumer reporting agencies
to the FBI for counterintelligence and counterterrorism purposes. The FBI
has no mechanism for obtaining credit reports for lead purposes in
counterterrorism cases. These reports are available to used car dealers
and other merchants. The FBI currently has authority under the Right to
Financial Privacy Act of 1978 to obtain similar records pursuant to a
"National Security Letter" signed by a high-ranking FBI official. the
same procedures and safeguards would apply to credit records under this
proposal.


o Amend federal law to adopt, in national security cases the standard
currently used in obtaining a "pen register" in a routine criminal case.

This proposal would extend the relaxed standard for obtaining "pen
registers" and "trap and trace" device orders which already exists in
routine criminal cases, to national security cases. A "pen register" is a
device which records the number dialed on a telephone. A "trap and trace"
devices is similar to "Caller ID," providing law enforcement with the
telephone number from which a call originates. Neither "pen registers"
nor "trap and trace" devices permit law enforcement to monitor actual
conversations being conducted. the current, higher-than-regular standard
impedes the ability of the FBI to obtain surveillance coverage of
terrorists and spies.


o Pass legislation to require hotel/motel and common carriers to provide
records necessary for fighting terrorism.

This proposal would require hotel/motel and common carriers such as
airlines and bus companies to provide records to the FBI pursuant to
authorized national security requests just as they must do now for
virtually all state and local law enforcement. The FBI must now rely on
the voluntary assistance of motel, hotel, and other innkeepers or common
carriers regarding records of terrorists who may have stayed at the
establishment or used the common carrier. The FBI has found that, while
some of these entities voluntarily provide such information, an
increasing number refuse, absent a court order, a subpoena, or other
legal protection. In a counterterrorism case being conducted pursuant to
the Attorney General's guidelines for FBI Foreign Intelligence Collection
and Foreign Counterintelligence Investigations, there is no legal
mechanism, e.g. subpoena, available to obtain these records.


o  Fully fund the FBI's "Digital Telephony" initiative to assure court
  Authorized law enforcement access for electronic surveillance to
  Digitized communications.

This proposal would appropriate funds to implement recent amendments to
statutes governing secure telephone transmission (digital telephony).
These amendments require telephone carriers to install and maintain
sophisticated equipment which would permit law enforcement to continue to
conduct legal electronic surveillance.


o Create and allocate funds for a special FBI Counterterrorist and
Counterintelligence fund.

This proposal will fund costs associated cases which arise in connection
with terrorism crises, including logistics and other support.


o Create an interagency Domestic Counterterrorism Center headed by the
  FBI.

This proposal will establish a partnership effort between the Justice
Department, including the FBI, and other federal and state law
enforcement authorities to coordinate efforts within the United States.



(3) Conduct terrorism threat assessment of every federal facility in the
country within the next 60 days.

The President has directed the Attorney General to conduct this
assessment and report her recommendations in 60 days. The assessment has
already begun.


(4) Direct GSA to replace the Federal Building in Oklahoma City.


(5) direct the FBI director, the Attorney General, and the National
Security Adviser to prepare a Presidential Decision Directive authorizing
any and all further steps necessary to combat foreign and domestic
terrorism.


II.  New Legislative Proposals

(1) INVESTIGATIONS

o Hire approximately 1000 new agents, prosecutors, and other federal law
enforcement and support personnel to investigate, deter, and prosecute
terrorist activity.


o Pass legislation to require, within 1 year, the inclusion of taggants
in standard explosive device raw materials which will permit tracing of
the materials post-explosion.

This proposal would require the inclusion of microscopic particles in
certain raw materials, thereby permitting law enforcement to trace the
source of the explosive even after a device has been detonated.


o Require the BATF to study and report on 1) the tagging of explosive
materials for purposes of identification and detection; 2) whether common
chemicals used to manufacture explosives can be rendered inert for use in
explosives; and 3) whether controls can be imposed on certain precursor
chemicals used to manufacture explosives.

In light of recent bombing incidents, there is a need to develop
technologies that will make it possible to detect concealed explosives.
Additionally, if bombings do take place, a means of providing some clues
is needed to lead investigators to those responsible for the explosion.
Moreover, since explosives can be manufactured using common agricultural
and household materials, it is important to determine whether such
materials can be manufactured in a manner so that their use in explosives
is unlikely. Finally, the study would determine whether any reasonable
controls can be placed on precursor chemicals, e.g., ammonium nitrate,
which have many legitimate uses.


o Amend the Posse Comitatus Act to permit military participation in
crime-fighting involving weapons of mass destruction.

This proposal would amend Federal Laws, which severely limit the role of
the military in domestic law enforcement, to permit military
participation in criminal cases involving chemical, biological, and other
weapons of mass destruction; areas in which the military has specialized
expertise.


o Amend the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1868 to
constitutionally enhance use of electronic surveillance to fight
terrorism.

This proposal would: permit any federal felony to be used as a basis for
an electronic surveillance order; ease restrictions on the use, in
American court proceedings, of information from electronic surveillance
conducted by foreign governments; forbid suppression of electronic
evidence unless law enforcement acted in bad faith in obtaining the
evidence; authorize emergency electronic surveillance in situations
involving threats by domestic terrorist organizations, authorize roving
wiretaps where it is not practical to specify the number of the phone to
be tapped, such as where a target uses multiple  pay phones; allow the
FBI to obtain records of local telephone calls, without the need for a
court order, as they can own obtain records of   long-diastase calls; and
require telephone companies and/or service providers to preserve evidence
until a court order could be obtained. None of these changes would alter
the requirement for probable cause prior to engaging in electronic
surveillance.


(2) PROSECUTION


o Amend federal law to criminalize the use of all chemical weapons to
include all forms of chemical weapons.

This bill would amend federal law to include chemical weapons in
non-gaseous form. Under existing law, chemical weapons in gaseous form
are covered, but those which are in liquid or solid form are not. Thus,
for example, an individual who introduces dioxin in solid form into the
water supply of a city would not be chargeable under current law.


o Make it illegal to possess explosives knowing that they are stolen.

This proposal would conform explosive laws to existing firearms statutes,
making it a crime for an individual to possess explosives which the
individual knows are stolen.

o Extend the statute of limitations on the National Firearms Act to five
(5) years.

This proposal would extend from three (3) to five (5) years the statute
of limitations for prosecution for violations of the National Firearms
Act, which deals with explosive and incendiary bombs. This change brings
the statue of limitations for these offenses in line with similar
criminal provisions.


o Provide the Secretary of Treasury authority to direct the use of
treasury department aircraft to support emergency law enforcement
situations.

This proposal would authorize the Secretary of Treasury to authorize the
use of Treasury Department aircraft in support of emergency law
enforcement crises.


o Amend reward statutes to reduce restrictions on making rewards.

This proposal would provide the Attorney General authority to pay a
reward which is not subject to the spending limitations contained in 18
U.S.C. Sec. 3059 and 3072, provided that any reward of $100,000 or more
may not be made without the approval of the President of the Attorney
General, and such approval may not be delegated.


(3) PENALTIES


o Increase the penalty for anyone convicted of transferring a firearm or
explosive knowing that it will be used to commit a crime of violence or
drug trafficking crime.

This proposal will provide a mandatory penalty of not less than 10 years
for any person who transfers a firearm knowing or having reasonable cause
to believe that a firearm will be used to commit a crime of violence or
drug-trafficking crime.


o Amend 18 U.S.C. Sec. 111 to provide enhanced penalties for all current
and former federal employees against terrorist attacks.

The existing statute only protects enumerated categories of current
Federal employees. The proposed statute would provide enhanced penalties
for crimes against all current and former federal employees, and their
immediate families, when the crime is committed because of the official
duties of the federal employee.